And what are we trading this for? Washing someone's dusty feet.
I can't explain it, but when God reaches his hand through skin and bone and wraps it around your heart, He resuscitates you from the suffocating vice grip of this place. He becomes your pulse, and when you try to look back on things you used to love, He squeezes harder and you feel the constriction. You quit gazing longingly at Princess Whosoever's fancy house and start considering the slums and huts of starving children. You end the coveting of another's gifts and begin using your own.
Some people think you're a bore. But there are others who recognize the light emanating from you, and they are drawn.
Rules continued from yesterday's blog....
Rule Five: Never be ashamed of your birth, or your parents, your occupation, or your present employment. When there is an occasion to speak about the to others, do not be shy, but speak readily, with an indifference to how others will regard you.
Rule Six: Never say anything, directly or indirectly, that will provoke praise or elicit compliments from others. Do not let praise be the intended end of what you say. Do not ask others your faults with the intent to have them tell you of your good qualities. You are merely fishing for compliments.
Rule Seven: Always give God thanks for making you an instrument of his glory for the benefit of others.
Rule Eight: Make a good name for yourself by being a person of virtue and humility...but do not let your good reputation be the object of your gaze. Be like Moses, whose face shined brightly for others to see but did not make it a looking-glass for himself.
-Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living
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